# tilapia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204 "2007-03-16T14:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/21 "2007-03-17T13:38:02Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] Tilapia? 😕 You mean that fish that lives in the river that is nie unkillable? :dubious: You mean that fish that lives in the river that is is omnivorous and eats garbage? :rolleyes: You mean people eat these river rats? :eek: [/QUOTE] Ummmmm .. catfish. Gotta get me some. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/22 "2007-03-17T22:25:01Z")
Remember the late comedian/ventriloquist [Paul Winchell](http://www.paulwinchell.com)? He was involved for many years in trying to get Tilapia as a staple food in Africa. [Read about it here](http://www.paulwinchell.com/tilapiaproject.htm). Don’t miss the details about the mating habits of the Tilapia: > [@](#): > > The flesh of Tilapia is quite tasty but its mating habits are almost incredulous. One female can spawn up to 500 fry almost on a monthly basis. The fingerlings can attain several pounds in weight within six months. An Aqua culturist is needed to determine the sex of the brood because the genders must be separated or the males will devour the young. In addition, if they are not kept in separate ponds, overcrowding will occur on subsequent spawns and growth will be stunted, yielding fish the size of minnows. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/23 "2007-03-17T23:11:15Z")
[QUOTE=Tully Mars] Ummmmm .. catfish. Gotta get me some. [/QUOTE] Yep, it is amazing that many are having a pause regarding where the fish **could** be coming from, not all tilapia is coming from ugly places, and even so other fish (and shell fish) that do come from ugly places are still considered delicacies. In any case, just to help prevent mislabelings, I do think that there is a need to enforce labels regarding the origin of the tilapia so as to then ensure that it is coming from good sources. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/24 "2007-03-18T00:37:15Z")
I just got some frozen today from Trader Joe’s. I cook it very plain, with just a bit of butter. I suppose I could add some garlic and a bit of soy sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/25 "2007-03-18T02:21:27Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] Tilapia? 😕 You mean that fish that lives in the river that is nie unkillable? :dubious: You mean that fish that lives in the river that is is omnivorous and eats garbage? :rolleyes: You mean people eat these river rats? :eek: [/QUOTE] Do you eat crab? Do you know what crab eat? They’re scavengers, so anything, including dead humans, is fair game. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/26 "2007-03-18T04:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] Do you eat crab? Do you know what crab eat? They’re scavengers, so anything, including dead humans, is fair game. [/QUOTE] What about imitation crab? Do they eat imitation humans? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/27 "2007-03-18T07:20:43Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] What about imitation crab? Do they eat imitation humans? [/QUOTE] Do androids shag electric sheep? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/28 "2007-03-18T07:42:38Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] What about imitation crab? Do they eat imitation humans? [/QUOTE] You mean Soylent Pink? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/29 "2007-03-18T08:07:00Z")
[QUOTE=Licentious Ectomorph] I use tilapia for just about any recipe that calls for “fish fillets.” Here’s one of my favorites: 2 pounds fish fillets 1/2 cup French dressing 1+1/2 cups crushed cheese crackers 2 tablespoons margarine, melted. Dip fish into dressing and roll in cracker crumbs. Place on greased cookie sheet and drizzle margarine over fish. Bake at 500 degrees for 12 minutes. [/QUOTE] Please don’t take this wrong, but is this recipe serious? This sounds absolutely, monstrously, science-fiction swamp-monster, _disgusting_. Are you seriously telling us, no joke, that this is good to put in your mouth? ---
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/30 "2007-03-18T13:16:56Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Please don’t take this wrong, but is this recipe serious? This sounds absolutely, monstrously, science-fiction swamp-monster, _disgusting_. Are you seriously telling us, no joke, that this is good to put in your mouth? [/QUOTE] Ha! Yes, I’m serious. You don’t really taste the dressing; it’s mostly a means of getting the crushed cheese crackers to stick. You’ve had cheese-crusted fish, haven’t you? This particular recipe is called Cheesy Fish Fillets, from [The Four Ingredient Cookbook.](http://www.fouringredientcookbook.com/) Some of my absolute _favorite_ recipes come from it (I have the first three books combined in one volume). ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/31 "2007-03-18T20:46:52Z")
[QUOTE=Licentious Ectomorph] Ha! Yes, I’m serious. You don’t really taste the dressing; it’s mostly a means of getting the crushed cheese crackers to stick. You’ve had cheese-crusted fish, haven’t you? [/QUOTE] The crackers seem okay (I don’t tend to like them much), but French dressing is so disgusting to me that it will never be part of any recipe I willingly eat. Egg would work. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/32 "2007-03-18T21:09:41Z")
All I had on mine the other night was a bit of soy sauce and butter. Simple and delicious. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/33 "2007-03-18T21:58:23Z")
I find tilapia a little thin and muddy tasting. And having bred them, I find it a little weird to eat them. But I would think almost any recipe for other freshwater fish (except catfish, which is kind of reptilian; different texture entirely, although usually even muddier tasting). I like to do rainbow trout with ginger, rice vinegar, and lemongrass. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/34 "2007-03-19T21:21:31Z")
CONFESSION: One year, when we were in between dogs, our family en masse (aunts, uncles, cousins and Grandmas) went on vacation. In preparation, we went to the pet store and got those onetime feed tablets to keep our fish well fed while we were gone two weeks. We had caught in the river next door a tilapia the previous year and this fish grew to be the biggest in the aquarium. Well when were got back we found that a rat(±eight inches, not counting its tail) had fallen in and drowned amidst the vegetation that grew in there. It’s festering body had killed all the fish in the aquarium but the tilapia. :o But as we “fished” out the dead rat, we noticed that all the legs and part of the face had been nibbled off. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/35 "2007-03-20T00:28:52Z")
I just had some again, this time with lemon pepper. Very nice. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204/36 "2007-03-20T01:14:10Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] Do you eat crab? Do you know what crab eat? They’re scavengers, so anything, including dead humans, is fair game. [/QUOTE] Blech. And people wonder why I don’t eat seafood. :x [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tilapia/396204.md?page=1)